Rescuers held out hope for girl who later died

Friday

Apr 29, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Josh Morgan held the girl’s hand as she lay trapped under her house.

BY LISA ROGERSTimes Staff Writer

Josh Morgan held the girl’s hand as she lay trapped under her house.“I was just trying to keep her calm,” Morgan said. “She told me her name was Angel.”Angel Stillwell and her mother were trapped under the house off U.S. Highway 278 just across the Etowah County line in Calhoun County.Morgan, an Etowah County sheriff’s investigator, and Johnny Grant, chief deputy at the sheriff’s department, were among many who responded to the call after the tornado roared through the area Wednesday night.The house was surrounded by fallen trees, and it was difficult to see underneath, Morgan said.“I saw one lady, and I got under there and saw the second girl,” Morgan said.It is believed Angel and her parents were going to get in a truck to seek shelter somewhere and realized the storm was too close, then sought shelter in the house’s crawl space, Grant said.When the tornado hit, the house shifted off its foundation, pinning the two underneath.Some blocks were underneath the house, and the girl was trapped between those blocks and the joists.“The whole weight of that house was on top of her,” Grant said.Volunteer firefighters from nearby, along with agents with the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit and other officers and people in the community, were surrounding the house, trying to find a way to lift it.Sheriff Todd Entrekin was there and called for Gadsden Fire Department’s confined space rescue team. But time was critical and the fire department was almost 20 miles away.“When we first got there, she was talking to us, but we knew she was critical,” Grant said. “We knew the only chance she had was for us to get her out of there as soon as we could.”“We weren’t sure what to do, but we had to do something,” Grant said. “There wasn’t really anything we could do except hold her hand until we could figure out a way to get that house off them. All we could do was hold their hands and try to console them.”A car jack was placed under one corner of the house, but it wasn’t enough, Chris Haney, an agent with the DEU, said.“We were trying to find anything we could to get to Josh and Johnny to get them out,” Haney said. “Everything we had was just rudimentary.”Haney said he and others also were moving limbs and debris to give everyone room to work.As they tried to use the jacks under the joist, the joist tilted even more. “We were afraid it was going to come down on top of us,” Grant said.Someone handed them a rescue-type hammer, and Grant and Morgan began to chip away at the blocks.After some pieces of the blocks were removed, they were able to get Angel’s mother out.Michael Bishop, a medic with Hokes Bluff Fire Department, crawled under the house to try to treat Angel.The more pieces of block that were moved, the more weight it moved off the girl, Grant said.“We were having to do it like they did 40 years ago,” he said. “Everybody that was out there did everything they could to get her out.”They finally got enough of the block removed to free her. Crews had been working for more than hour to get her out, and she was not responding, Grant said.She was taken to Gadsden Regional Medical Center, where she died.Grant said his thoughts and prayers are with her family.Entrekin said people don’t usually think about it, but law enforcement officers and emergency workers put their lives on the line in these type disasters.He said instead of seeking shelter, law enforcement officers and emergency workers were out in the storm in all areas of the county.“We were still under a tornado warning when they were trying to get them out,” Entrekin said. “I was afraid it was going to fall on them, but they crawled under there without hesitation. All they thought about was trying to help them. They didn’t think about the dangers to themselves.”A lot of people worked hard that night, Haney said.“But Johnny and Josh were heroes that night,” he said.This is just one of the many stories of heroism that night.Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson said dozens of officers and emergency workers went door-to-door in search of storm victims.He said William and Linda Lipscomb were thrown several hundred feet from their Dove Welsh Road home, and it took searchers quite a while to find them.“We could deduce that they were seeking shelter in the bathtub,” Amerson said.He said the couple were next to each other and the bathtub was on top of Linda Lipscomb.Deputies and neighbors pulled Michael Forrest from the water after his home was blown into the lake near Ohatchee.“He grabbed some debris and held on,” Amerson said. “He started yelling for help, and they were able to find him and get him out.”He told rescuers his wife, Tina, was not at home, but neighbors said her car was there and she most likely was.“He was just in shock,” he said. Michael Forrest died the next morning at GRMC. A search team found Tina Forrest the next day in the debris strewn in the water.Fatalities in Calhoun County, according to Coroner Pat Brown, include:• Ruby Douthitt, 61, who was killed when her home on Gilbert’s Ferry Road was hit by a possible tornado.• Michael Forrest, 54, and Tina Forrest, 49, a married couple who lived on Eagle Cove Road in Ohatchee.• James Romaine, 65, who was found dead near Cochran Springs Road in Ohatchee.• Vernon Spencer Motes, 33, who was killed at Mamre Baptist Church near U.S. Highway 431 near Webster’s Chapel/Big Oak.• William Lipscomb, 67, and Linda Lipscomb, age unknown, who lived at Dove Welsh Road.• Arvella Jones, 63, friend of James Romaine, found dead near Cochran Springs Road in Ohatchee.• Angel Marie May Stillwell, 13, Piedmont, died at the hospital after being trapped under a house just across the Etowah County line on U.S. Highway 278.Fatalities in St. Clair County, according to Coroner Dennis Russell, include:• Gayle McCrory, 56, Moody, and Precious Hartley, 27, Pell City, died in mobile homes when storms passed through St. Clair County on Wednesday morning.• Seven people were killed in an assisted living facility inside a mobile home at 5700 Shoal Creek Road, Ashville. They include Bertha Kage, 70; Sandra Pledger, 66; Oberia Ashley, 86; Mae Lovell, 97; Ronnie Isbell, 56, owner of the assisted living facility; his daughter-in-law, Tammy Isbell, 31; and her daughter, Leah Isbell, 7.• Husband and wife Albert and Angie Sanders died in a house at 7220 Shoal Creek Road.• Charlie Wolfe, 68, died in a house at 7745 Shoal Creek Road, and Thomas Lee, 64, died in a house at 6410 Shoal Creek Road.At least five people were killed in Marshall County, all of those from one family, Coroner Marlon Killion said.The family lived in the Ruth community near Arab and was taking shelter in a house when a tornado struck about 3:20 p.m.Killion said Phillip and Ann Hallmark were killed, along with their 17-month-old grandson, Jaden Hallmark. Shane and Jennifer Hallmark also died during the tornado. Shane is Phillip’s son and Jaden’s uncle. Jaden’s sister was critically injured and transferred to Huntsville Hospital, Killion said.

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